I had a bad feeling about this Friday right from the time the alarm went off this morning. As if battling a hangover wasn't bad enough, Gatekeeper decided to pull an Alexander Karpovtsev "my shoulder hurts" and asked if I would be kind of enough to fill in for the recap tonight. Since I am such a nice guy, I said yes. Boy did I pick a helluva a game/night to fill in on recap duty.
Despite playing the second game of a very, very, very difficult back to back series in Miami and Tampa (makes that Minnesota and Edmonton back to back sound like a cake walk), the Blackhawks came out with some jump to their step. At the end of the first period, the Blackhawks out shot the Bolts, 10 to 7, and Lemont native Scott Darling kept the Bolts off the board. After one the game was scoreless.
As the second period went on, this game went to hell in a hand basket quickly. The Blackhawks had an early power play, where they had some chances, but couldn't get one past Ben Bishop. Later in the period, the Hawks had another power play, that looked awful and got nothing accomplished. The Lightning used the momentum they built off of the two penalty kills, and got two pucks past Lemont native Scott Darling, to give the Bolts a 2-0 lead after two.
In the third period, the effort simply wasn't there, and the excuses of 3 games and 4 nights started to pile up by Steve Konroyd and Pat Foley. Boo friggin' hoo, it was a back to back of Miami and Tampa. Not that difficult. Anyway, the Bolts got two more goals past Darling, both of the power play kind, and ended up sealing a 4-0 win for the home team.
The Good
- Stan Bowman finally put on his big boy pants during the game, and made a trade. (More on that later)
- Wasn't it nice to see Teuvo get some power play time? Glad to see Q hit the stop button on the power play line blender.
The Bad
- Lemont native Scott Darling wasn't horrible, but he wasn't great either. He may have been adequate to an extent. With putrid defense in front of him, you can't pin the entire loss on him.
- Teuvo had a bad pass that went off the side of the net, right to a Lightning player, and eventually in the back of the net.
- Based on recent games, we'll say a 50/50 night at the dot, should be some sort of a win.
The Ugly
- Screw it, the ENTIRE defensive core is nothing less than hot vomit in a garbage bag. Everyone.
- Duncan Keith's sub par play continued, as he had a nice one man parade to the penalty box. Although Kris Versteeg tried to tag along with two penalties of his own.
- Words to describe the power play; 0 for 3 on the night. Keep it up boys.
- Oh good Lord, enough of the tired, poor us Blackhawks excuses. Too bad, every team plays 3 games in 4 nights during the season.
- This game, and the next bit of news may have made me turn into this:
Onto the trade news.......
Blackhawks acquire D Kimmo Timonen for 2015 2nd Round Pick and 2016 conditional 4th Round Pick
Jump for joy Blackhawks fans!!! Stan Bowman finally made that much anticipated trade we've all been waiting for. And the result was a resounding dud. Bowman acquired defenseman Kimmo Timonen from the Flyers for 2 drafts picks. What. The. Fuck Stan Bowman???!! Seriously this is the trade for the defenseman the team needs? A soon to be 40 year old, who's missed the entire season with blood clots. Did I mention Bowman gave up two of his prized draft picks? Whatever. Its a trade we all wanted. I guess we should all be careful what we wish for. I honestly think this is Bowman giving Quenneville the two fingered salute for not playing his prized prospects. I can see the conversation of; "Okay Joel, you want veterans, I'll get you a veteran." And he goes out and makes this move for a veteran defenseman. If Q doesn't feel like he was just bitch slapped by a Mr. Know It All, well he should. It wouldn't surprise me if the feud between the two egos starts to boil over. Isn't it nice to know the window is shutting so fast on the Blackhawks, just as spring is approaching. It would be nice to get the smell of the feud out, but it doesn't look that is going to happen any time soon. Based on this move, and the overall chemistry between the entire organization, it wouldn't shock me if a coaching change comes to usher in the new core of players next season. Only time will tell. This is the first move of a likely second move that is coming, so we'll see whether or not if that second move involves Patrick Sharp.